Bucking Spree

Duh duh duhhhhhh..... And there it is. Naughty baby! I sure did ask for it. Honestly though, he really wasn't that bad. Beth met us at Ashland and taught Christina and May first and then it was our turn. Christina and May did great. She even went out on the XC field on the lunge line and did some of the questions. Yeah.... Danny and I didn't make it out of the ring. In his defense, it was a really cold day considering recent weather. It was windy too and there was little eddies of wind blowing around. Of course May had the same weather... ;)

Anyways, I meant to lunge him first but didn't have time. And I really didn't need to the last time. So I thought it would be fine. I tacked him up and got on and we started off on the lunge with Beth in the middle. He was fussy with his head but not bad. We walked, we stopped, we turned. And then the wind picked up a bit. And there was trucks driving by. Danny used it all as excuses and started bucking some. Whee! At first I kept tipping forward and letting my heels come up. It's a shock I didn't come off. But like I said, they weren't that bad. And Beth had his head too, so she helped. We got him under control and then he started up again. This went on for about 10 minutes on and off. Then he reared up on me and I slid to the back of the saddle. But I stayed on. At that point, Beth told me to get off. He was starting to get worse and was going into full blown temper tantrum mode. Sigh.

So we lunged him. And lunged him. He had a few bucking sprees, but then settled down. And then politely asked to walk. Beth said no. She made him keep going. If he's going to be naughty, he's going to work. So finally it was time for me to get back on. That turd got fussy and wouldn't go the direction we wanted him to as soon as I got on, so we had to have another little discussion. We found that short little soft taps on the shoulder worked best. Taps on the hiney initiated bucks. :) 

The good news is that I managed to stay on and he finally settled down mostly. And I suppose to that if I have to admit it, I'm glad. I like them a little spunky. Of course that is until I end up on the ground. But I don't think he's malicious about it. Though this was as close to a temper tantrum as I've seen/felt. His back got all humpy and he got all mad and pissy. Twit.. But alls well that ended well.